A Dalit family of four — a young man, his parents, and younger brother — were shot down in Madhya Pradesh, allegedly by neighbours who had accused the man of harassing the wife of one of the attackers, the police said. The man, Manak Ahirwar, and his parents died, while the younger brother, Mahesh, is in a critical state. ?

The two families started quarrelling in Devran village of Damoh district on Monday evening after the wife of the main accused, Jagdish Patel, complained that Manak stalked her and often stared at her. Villagers claim the fight was resolved and each went their own way.

The next morning, Patel, with five other men from his family, headed to Manak’s home, this time armed. Another fight broke out between the families and the men fired at Manak, his parents, and his younger brother. Only Mahesh survived the incident and is being treated at the hospital.

The killings have sparked national outrage over the safety of Dalits in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, with Bahujan Samaj Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati slamming the state government for failing to prevent atrocities against marginalised communities.

Mayawati tweeted: “This latest incident like dark age exposes the government failure in Madhya Pradesh BJP government in terms of law and order as well as security of poor, dalits, tribals and women etc. Government should not take soft but strict action against such criminal elements, this demand of BSP.”

The relatives of the victims’ family and others from the community staged a demonstration at Damoh with the bodies, demanding strict action against the guilty. They have urged authorities to raze the 'illegal' property of the accused with bulldozers.

DR Teniwar, Superintendent of Police, Damoh, says Patel is in custody, but the other five have absconded. “The entire incident allegedly happened over harassment of a woman from the Patel family”, Teniwar told reporters. A case was registered on a complaint filed after Mahesh listed charges of murder, attempt to murder and under a stringent law on crimes against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.?

Two other theories as reasons behind the murder are being probed at. One, a land dispute and other is the fight between the women of the two families. The first theory is considerably weak because the victims were workers in beedi rolling units, and they did not own much land.